MELBOURNE, May 11, 2026, 01:02 AEST
ANZ Group Holdings shares go ex-dividend on Monday, so anyone buying after that misses out on the bank’s A$0.83 interim payout. The dividend, scheduled for July 1, comes 75% franked—so Australian investors get tax credits on three-quarters of the amount.
The deadline is here: ANZ notes that to snag the dividend, investors needed to own shares before the ex-dividend date. Those picking up shares on or after Monday miss out on this payout, though anyone selling on or after that date still holds onto the entitlement.
The dividend date lands a little more than a week after ANZ posted its first-half results, turning attention back to Chief Executive Nuno Matos’ ongoing cost-cut push. Statutory profit held steady at A$3.65 billion versus last year, according to the bank’s filing. Cash profit — ANZ’s preferred non-IFRS benchmark for tracking core performance — climbed 6% to A$3.78 billion.
Shares of ANZ ended May 8 at A$36.79, down 1.5% on delayed figures. That closing price puts the 83-cent dividend at roughly 2.3% of the share value pre-tax—big enough to draw attention from both yield seekers and short-term traders once the market reopens.
Matos pointed to the half-year numbers as evidence that ANZ’s “transformation is running at pace,” adding the bank is “already delivering materially better returns for shareholders.” Cash profit climbed 14% from the prior half once significant items were stripped out. Return on tangible equity landed at 11.6%, with the cost-to-income ratio coming in at 49.4%. ANZ
Cost discipline remains in focus. In investor remarks, Matos highlighted a 9% cut in costs for ANZ on a half-on-half basis—stripping out significant items—and said 49% of planned productivity gains have come through. As of the end of April, 78% of the 3,500 staff exits flagged earlier had happened. Over 1,000 managed-services consultants are also gone.
Capital is solid enough for the board to maintain the payout. ANZ reported its Common Equity Tier 1 ratio climbed to 12.39% as of March 31, up from where it stood at the end of September. The bank will not offer a discount for its dividend reinvestment plan, and plans to purchase shares on-market to meet those commitments.
Still, there are complications. Jefferies analysts argue ANZ’s sluggish revenue growth lingers, even as the bank makes headway on operations. For the second half, they say, ANZ has to prove it can reignite mortgage-driven revenue—without sacrificing margins or tripping up on processing.
The competitive pressure hasn’t eased. Matos pointed to solid results from ANZ’s institutional and New Zealand operations, but noted both lending and deposits saw just modest gains, with margins holding steady in what he described as a market defined by “intense competition.” ANZ
Other banks haven’t dodged scrutiny either. Westpac turned in a first-half profit last week that missed estimates, while cautioning that rising energy and fuel costs are starting to squeeze both mortgage and business customers. “A challenge for all businesses,” Chief Executive Anthony Miller called those higher global energy costs. Reuters noted ANZ and National Australia Bank shares were also down for the year to date during the same stretch. Reuters
ANZ shareholders face a tight timeline: the record date lands Tuesday, and Wednesday at 5 p.m. AEST marks the deadline for dividend reinvestment, bonus option, and foreign-currency elections. But a bigger issue hovers — can Matos translate those cuts and ANZ’s capital buffer into more consistent revenue growth by August’s trading update?
